1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an apparatus for distinguishing whether a replaceable article loaded on to it is a genuine product or not and to an image forming apparatus such as a copying machine and a laser beam printer, and particularly to an image forming apparatus having stored therein a confidential identity number which is obtained from the manufacturer's code on the consumptive component part.
2. Description of Related Art
In a conventional copying machine which is an image forming apparatus, there is a continued need to replace various components such as replenishing of toner, cleaning of developer unit, cleaning of corona charger and replacement and adjusting of other consumptive materials. Such replacements must be carried out periodically and professional workers should usually conduct them. Since such professional workers specially in charge of these works are required, the service cost for these works affects to increase the price of the apparatus.
In the case of small size apparatus being intended for an individual or a small scale business, the price must be inexpensive. It is especially important to decrease the service cost for such apparatus consequently. Accordingly, each of such plural component parts are integrated into one unit and can be set in and removed from the main body.
Such consumptive component parts are usually manufactured as genuine parts by the manufacturer of the copying machine and sold to the users. However, these consumptive parts are often manufactured and sold to the users by third parties without permission from the manufacturer. For instance toner for use in a copying machine is already widely manufactured by the third parties.
If the user uses such consumptive parts manufactured by the third party and it causes troubles to the copyig machine, the warrant of the manufacturer cannot be relied upon to the disadvantages of the user. In the case, for instance, where an imitation of an image forming unit having integrated various units in the periphery of the photosensitive members as one unit is used, the characteristics of the photosensitive member frequently differs from the genuine product to cause unevenness in an image density, resulting in inferior image quality and voiding a warranty
In the other case where the useful life of a component part comes to its end and it is remanufactured or rebuilt, the performance is not only unstable but also its life is short. Likewise, the performance is not warranted and may bring about disadvantages to the user.